Pneumatic sweeper.



A. E. MOORHEAD. PNEUMATIC SWEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 28, 1908.

927,668, Patented July 13,1909.

livlyr WITNESSES: Y j [N VENTOR) @lz fl L29 MM 7/ m BY mammal 50 1;- W2!) ATTORNEY.

Sweepers, of which'the following. is a speci- ALBERT E. MOORHEAD, or SANFRANtIStO, caiaronxu.

PNEUMATIC SWEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1909.

Application filed October 28, 1908. Serial No. 459,948.

To all whom it may concern: I I

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. MooRnEAn, a citizen of theUnited States;residing at ban Francisco. in the. county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pneumaticfication. I

The object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic sweeper,which shall be simple in construction and convenient and effective inoperation.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectionof the sweeper on the line-1'1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a broken bottom planview thereof; Fig. 3 is a detail transverse vertical section of amodified form of brush; Fig. 4: is a broken bottom plan view of saidmodified form.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a rectangular casing, open at thebottom, closed at the top'and sides, and having removable ends 2. Uponthe top of said casing, close to its four corners, are secured, byscrews 3, rubber disks 4, the peripheries of which extend beyond theperiphery of the casing, so that said disks serve as guards to protectfurniture or the walls of the room against impact and abrasion by thesweeper casing when in usel 7 direction and obliqucly upward from thecenter of the'top of the casing is a tubular conduit 5, formed at itsupper end with a socket 6 adapted, in the manner common in the art, toreceive the lower end of a pipe, not shown, which also serves as ahandle, and which is adapted to be connected at its upper end with ahose leading to a suction api iaral'us to maintain a constant upwardsuction into said conduit from the interior of the casing. Within thecasing, close to the sides thereof, are arranged two rollers, 7-

having' rubber surlaccs 8, said rollers being pivoted in the ends ol thecasing and the cnds of said rollers rotating in very close proximity tothe inner surface of the end pieces 2. The lower edges 9 of the sides ofthe casing slope downwardly inward, and to said sloping edges strips ll)of felt are secured by means of metal strips 11, which extend over saidfeltstrips 10 and are socured to the said sloping lower edges by screws12. l clt strips extend inward within the sides or the casing, and theirfree edges I lion ol a casing opcn at the bolttnn, a brush bear against.the rubber surfaces ol' the roll- Leading in a transverse ,ers, andthereby prevent the free pas age of air into the interior of the casino;aroind the outer sides of said rollers, so that the only air which canenter the casing is that pas ring thereinto between the rollers. extendonly slightlybelow the lowcr edges of the ends Z of the casing. so'lhat.when said rollers are on the surface to be swept, sail lower cfdges arein close proximity to said surface, and therefore narrow streams ofairentcr the casing between the surface which is being swept and thelower edges of said ends.

14 indicates the back ol a brush, having bristles 15, and attachczlbyscrews 16 to arms 17 depending from a metal top 19.

Said arms can move in vertical guideways or recesses 19 in the ends ofthe casing, thereby confining the brush agrainst movcmcnt in a directiontransversely of its length. 'lo said toplS near its ends aresecured-guide posts '20, upon the upper thrcad'cd .ends ol which arescrewed stop nuts 21, said upper ends being adapted to slide throughapertures. 22 formed in the tops of caps 33 screwed into cylindricalllangcs '24, formed on the. top of the casing. ithin said caps arecontained springs 35, the lower ends of which bear upon the mctaltoplS,while their upper ends bear against the-under surfaces of the tops olthe t aps. Individualfclosed housings ll surround the caps, and aresecurcl by set screws 27 to the [lane-es '34. By means ol' these springs25 the brush is pressed upon lhc surface to be'cleancd. This pressurecan be increased by screwing the caps into the llangcs, while, byscrewing them outward. the pros sure is diminished. With thisconstriu-rion, as thcaswccpcr is moved over the surface to be cleaned.the prcssure'ol the springs causes the brushes to remove the dust fromsaid su'r lace, and the constant suction maintained by the suctionapparatus draws the air and wilh it the dust from the ends ol the casingto the center and up through the conduit.

Figs. 3 and l illustraic a modilied l'orm ofbrush. in which theagitating material consists-ol obliquely arranged \crtical rectangularpieces 25 ol -lclt, said pieces being conlincd at the top betweenllangcs 2!), being also retained in place by a. square bolt 30 passingcentrally through said pi'cccs.

l. in apncumatic sweeper, the combinasupported centrally in said casing,rollers parallel with said brush and on opposite sides thereof, the endsof said rollers moving in close proximity to the ends of the casinganrt'fleiible strips supported by the casing, and contacting with theouter sides of said rollers, to exclude the passage of air over theouter'side's of said rollers, substantially as described.

2; In a pneumatic sweeper, the combination of a'casing open at thebottom, abrush supported centrally in said casing, rollers para lel"with said brush and on opposite sidesthereof, the ends of said rollersmoving in close proximity to the ends of the casing, means for Varyingthe pressure of said brush upon the floor, a substantially air tighthousingfor said means, and flexible strips supported by the casing, andcontacting with the outer sides of said rollers, to exclude the passageof air over the outer sides of said rollers, substantially as described.

3. In a pneumatic sweeper, the combination of a casing 0 en. at thebottom, abrush supported centraly in said casing, rollers parallel withsaid brush and on opposite sides thereof, the ends of said rollersmoving in close proximity to the ends of the casing, means located ateach end of the brush for varying the pressure of said brush upon thefloor, and a substantially air tight housing for each of said means,substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscrlbing' witnesses.

ALBERT E. MOORHEAD.

W'itnesses: 4

FRANcrs M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

